[xtinct]

Excellent... Peggy Noonan is such a class act.

[shezza]

Here's how it got done: When I had been doing the show for a few weeks I could see that my work was not good--uneven, without voice, without a clear point of view. I thought I knew the reason. I had become increasingly a political conservative. Dan, it was obvious to me, was a sort of establishment liberal--not a wild leftist and not an ideologue, but whatever smart liberals thought was more or less what he wound up thinking, and saying. I couldn't write his views well, because I didn't buy them and didn't fully understand them. I couldn't write my views, because the show had to reflect his thinking. So I went to him and told him my problem. He was great. He said: On any given issue that we discuss, give the liberal point of view fairly and give the conservative point of view fairly, and then we'll end it with my opinion, because it's my show. I thought that sounded good.

And it worked. "Dan Rather Reporting" actually got something of a conservative following, not because it was a conservative show--it wasn't--but because it actually put forward the conservative point of view in what might be called a fair and balanced way.

Aha! So Dan Rather owed his success to Peggy Noonan's brilliant writing, who made his show "fair and balanced" and drew a large conservative audience because of that. It was her words, her script, that made him a success. After she left, his looney liberal rantings took center stage and his ratings began to slip. I hope Dan sent YOU some flowers, Peggy, because you did the impossible: Made a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

[MaryFromMichigan]

Very well written article.
Must be tough for Rather to read the obit of his career.
The comparisons to Nixon must be especially galling.

:)

[Thebaddog]

From reading the intro, it really does sound like he was a very good useful idiot.

[squirt-gun]

The entire article is wonderfully written....Noonan is magnificent

[jocon307]

You are right, this piece is "fair and balanced".

[uncbob]

Dan Rather did some great work on stories that demanded physical courage.

I remember how Ol Dan carried on despite being wacked in the gut on the democrat convention floor by one of Mayor Daily's goon back in 68.

I thought Walter Cronkite uo in the booth was going to have apoplexy .I still remember him saking "Can you carry on Dan ?"
Hell of a trooper that good ol boy Rather

[oldbrowser]

I think the analysis of Richard Nixon's downfall was brilliant.

He had been right and brave and done the right thing in the 1950s, and the American left and its cousin the American establishment would never forgive him for it.

[OldPossum]

As a person with a little background in radio announcing, I can tell you that Dan Rather is not a talented announcer. His phrasing is so herky-jerky as to distract and his voice is somewhat hoarse and not easy on the ears.

I imagine that you could look among the stable of CBS staff announcers and find many that are superior to ol' Dan's news presentation abilities.

[Noachian]

If you were a young Dan Rather you knew which side was the side to be on. You knew which side your bosses were on. You knew which side would lead to your rise. And you knew which side would win.

This part of the article can explain a lot about Rather. It's similiar to a businessman trying to get ahead in the corporate world. Only the corporation is the MSM and it involves twisting reality for millions of viewers to produce a desired outcome.

[rwa265]

"Mr. Bush decked him instead, and with a question that reverberates: How would you like your whole career to be judged by one mistake?"

After papergate, the question can be changed to: How do you like your whole career being judged by one mistake?

[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

Education of dan rather, this story leaves out that he was too stupid to get into Rice or UH so he went to a teachers college here in Huntsville Texas.

[gridlock]

(from article)

And yet. Dan Rather was one of the great breaking-news reporters of our time. Hurricanes, earthquakes, big sudden stuff--he loved it, and he knew how to cover it. A friend reminded me of the beauty with which Dan asked for silence as CBS's cameras lingered on the sun going down on quake-ravaged San Francisco in 1989. And I think of his delicate coverage of stories like Princess Diana's funeral

I think that 1989/90 was the critical time when Dan Rather's head exceeded his hat size. He started believing too much of his own press, and started seeing himself as the story.

I remember watching Dan Rather covering the Oklahoma City bombing. He interviewed the man on the scene responsible for the search and rescue operations, I think it was the Fire Chief, though maybe he was Police. After wasting the man's time with obvious questions for five minutes, Dan Rather had filled his airtime and was ready to hand off. Before he let the Chief go, he asked him, on air, to remain available in case he, Dan Rather, needed him again later.

It was a stunning visual example of where Dan Rather though he fitted into a story. Of all the people at that scene, Dan Rather considered himself to be the most important, and felt that everyone, even the Commander at the scene, should make themselves available if he needed them.

[Tribune7]

Peggy Noonan bump

[Savage Beast]

You can forget about the "attractiveness" bit, Peggy. And, when Dan went to New York, he got indoctrinated, not "educated".

[ThePythonicCow]

Duplicate post - see earlier post at:

"The Education of Dan Rather"- Peggy Noonan captures Rather's rise, arrogance and dastardly fall

[randog]

Peggy Noonan has such the wonderful gift of being able to tell you you're a screwup without hurting your feelings. In fact, you'd probably thank her afterwards.

[Eva]

Peggy wrote the article the way Dan Rather instructed her to write his commentary, telling both sides and then adding her opinion. Dan might even be proud of her for this piece, he certainly cannot complain that it is unbalanced or untrue.

[Don Corleone]

R.I.P. Rather

[Liz]

RATHERISMS (election reports)

"It's tighter than a prairie dog's butt in a dust bowl!"

"This race is tighter than a face lift on a 50 year old auditioning for 'Dawson's Creek'."

"Tonight we've seen more ups and downs than a Viagra conference."

"It's all about chads. Chads, chads, chads. Chad, chad, bo-bad, banana-fana, fo-fad. Chad."

"This race is about as hard to call as a deaf hog up a sassafras tree."

"George W. Bush is like a whorehouse pianist -- he can see the prize, but he can't touch it."

"This election is bouncing around like Dolly Parton jumping rope on speed."

"The recount room is locked up tighter than an Iowa trailer park in tornado season."

"This one's tighter than Rush Limbaugh's bike shorts."

"This one's a crotch-grabber, folks, and I'll bet a handful of nuts it won't be over any time soon."

"Tell grandma to take her teeth out of the glass, this'll be a nail biter."

"This race is stickier than a pine cone enema on a hot night in the bayou."

"This one is working out to be a hum-dinger, only the fat lady ate all the hums and is now eyeing the dingers."

"This race is tight like a too-small bathing suit on a too-long ride home from the beach."

"This race is as tight as the rusted lug nuts on a '55 Ford."

"The Florida voter may be getting screwed harder than a drunken Paula Zahn at CNN's Christmas party."

"If Gore loses Florida, you can call Ned Beatty and fire up 'Dueling Banjos' because Al will be squealing like a pig."

"His lead is as thin as turnip soup."

"The presidential race is swinging like Count Basie."

"Ohio becomes like a sauna for the two candidates. All they can do is wait and sweat."

"One's reminded of that old saying, 'Don't taunt the alligator until after you've crossed the creek.'"